I think the key phrase for this topic Is "Open minded". I guess for some it is hard to accept new found information. An open mind is one of the reasons we are even in this counrty! Although Columbus discovered this land by accident while looking for another port, he went against the notion that others had about the world being flat. LOL! Come on guys! Don't dismiss something just because you have not seen it first hand. I have not seen a million dollars but I know it exists!

I call it a clearing that happens to be in the vicinity of a flock of turkeys. It can change year to year depending on travel patterns or food source. I think that the frequent use of a clearing has more to do with where the turkeys roost. I am of the opinion that if turkey have anything "traditional" that they do from generation to generation it would be roosting on the same area. I say this because I have seen the strut areas change due to visibilty because of overgrown vegetation. They still roost in the same general area and that may change when the type of trees surrounding the preffered roosting area mature and the understory changes. In one instance, on property I have hunted on for years, i think they prefer to roost because the hill and ridge provides a natural wind shield. Plus the morning sun hits that ridge first. It also happens to be at the end of a hollow and has a taller ridge running north and south beyond. This ridge runs northeast to southwest and is maybe 450 yards long and the birds roost just below crest of it on a shelf. They have roosted there as long as I can remember. Sometimes a little lower but always close to previous years. The woods are really starting to mature so that could change in future years.

They used to pitch out and glide straight across to the top of the ridge. They would fly up just about ten feet, thirty yards across and land to strut in a clearing on top. Then they started gliding all the way down into the bottom (about 800 feet down the hill) and strut there. Somtimes they would fly across to the other side. It is kind of shaped like a stadium (the valley) with one open end. There is never any guarantee they will be in certain place and they have several within "pitch" distance off the roost. They may be in them some time during the day but you never know which one. It is fun to try to "guess" where they will go and then try to set up "in the loop' when you guess wrong. They will strut anywhere they think they will be seen but it changes, like I said, with vegetation and other factors.

Look, if I didn't have the very thing sitting exactly 450 yards from the back of the house, I'd be skeptical too. From March to June, I can usually depend on it at least a few days a week.

Having said that, I can also tell you that this is significantly different than a couple of other places I have on the farm where I am bound to see turkeys on a frequent basis. There is a different feel to it, and they seems to have the following in common:

1) A large open grassy place.
2) Sunny with a good afternoon exposure. . .
3) . . .with lots of shade for the hens, usually some sort of loafing area.
4) The ground may be tilted, as on a hillside, but it is flat and not folded or bumpy

There are places of this type where the action seems to happen around 10 AM, or Noon, or 2 PM, with the action lasting 1-2 hours. However, there is only one spot where I've seen it happen at different times, and that's the one I have in my back yard. The gobbler comes out of the shady loafing area, struts for a while and then goes back into the shade.

My best tactic for hunting such a zone is to arrive well ahead of the turkeys and set up in the treeline, in a blind or in the one case, directly in the barn. This is also one of the good uses I have for my ghillie suit. I have a Jagende hutte (shooting house) smack dab in the middle of one of the strut zones, but it has a black shingled roof and it's unbearably hot to hunt in it on the days I might see a gobbler. Once I get set up, I simply give a few loud runs with a box call and sit back and wait. If nothing shows up, I repeat the run 10 minutes later.

In the case of the barn set-up. Once I spy the gobbler, he may still be a good 100-150 yards away. If I were to do any yelping, he'd go into his strut and never come close. Instead of calling, one of my best tactics is to throw dirt over towards the other opening and let the dust blow out the door. That and a little bit of clucking gives the impression that there are hens dusting in the barn.

I have a makeshift blind inside one of the doors. It hides me to the outside and it protects me from the inside. I have some roofing tin set up to block the view from the other door. This is where the hens come to dust. I've been in the barn and had the hens show up, and it is a noisy, dusty mess. I've had as many as six hens in with me at once, and seen as many as a dozen or so in there when I was not hunting from inside. It raises a dust cloud that envelopes the whole side of the barn. The dumb birds never think to look on the other side of that sheet tin.

It is by no means a sure bet. I've spent hours in such a set-up, gone home and started packing for the ride back to town and then looked out a half hour later and seen the gobbler doing his thing. I've shown up early only to find the birds had beaten me to it. I have spent the afternoon watching the gobbler strutting at 150 yards and never seen him come closer.

Here's a pic of the barn from the gobbler's point of view. The hen's dusting area is inside the entrance on the right. I hide behind the gate on the left with my back to the dusting area. I think I took the pic from just outside the treeline.

I figured it out TC isn't a turkey hunter thats why he can honestly say he doesn't use all those things...He is a PETA infiltraitor [;)] j/k

There are strut zones, shaman and fan club explained exactly what they are...I have a tract of land I have hunted for 6-7 years in a row and there are a few places on there you will see gobs strut year after year. TC you come on over to the real hills of NC and I'll put ya in a blind with my 15 year old and he will show you a strut zone.